brian henen: the head-start facility is part of our overall program to manage and protect the tortoises that we have here at the marine corps base in 29 palms. the general concept is we protect the eggs and the hatchlings until they grow enough until we can put them back in the wild. and at that time, they're large enough and their shell is hard enough where most predators, especially the ravens, cannot prey upon them. we monitor their reproductive status, and if they have eggs, then we bring them into the facility and allow them to nest in the facility. our facility's actually in the middle of their habita so there are natural conditions where they can lay their eggs and they can move around in their habitat at their own free will. we just bring them in temporarily so that they can lay their eggs and then they can move on. narrar: the project includes two captive females, thelma and louise. they enjoy some perks the other tortoises don't. brian henen: because it actually is a research project to decide whether or not we can head-start animals, protect those young, release them to the w